My review of ProRealTime Trading Futures, with Interactive Brokers
The account on which I trade the Nasdaq future every day: Interactive Brokers’ execution, ProRealTime’s platform and tick-by-tick data, and what this pairing really changes.
ProRealTime Trading Futures is an Interactive Brokers account that you run from ProRealTime. On one side, the execution, account administration and financial strength of the benchmark broker for Futures; on the other, ProRealTime’s interface, tick-by-tick data and customer service. It is the account I use every day to trade my one and only market, the Chicago Nasdaq future, in NQ and MNQ.
What is ProRealTime Trading Futures?
When you open this account, you become a client of both. ProRealTime, a French investment firm, receives your orders from its platform and passes them on. Interactive Brokers Ireland executes them on the exchange and holds your account: it keeps your money, issues your statements and calculates your margins.
You can trade Futures on indices, commodities, interest rates and cryptocurrencies, European and US shares, ETFs, options and warrants. And you keep access to Interactive Brokers’ own platforms, TWS and the mobile app, without needing to leave them running: ProRealTime is connected directly to the broker.
Already have an account with Interactive Brokers Ireland? You can link it to ProRealTime without opening a new one.
Why I moved from Interactive Brokers alone to ProRealTime Trading Futures
I opened my account with Interactive Brokers in September 2006. Execution was never the problem. Everything else was.
A real interface for scalping
TWS, Interactive Brokers’ in-house platform, is built for fund managers swing-trading a hundred stock positions. For scalping or day trading, opening it felt like stepping back into the 1980s: everything was there, nothing was where your hand went looking for it.
A platform that pays for itself
To trade properly with Interactive Brokers alone, I paid separately for an order-entry window and charting software, nearly €200 a month at the time. With ProRealTime, every standard contract executed earns a credit, which pays for the Complete or Premium version and the exchange data feeds.
Every tick on the chart
Interactive Brokers’ real-time prices are not tick by tick: for shares and Futures, they are aggregated snapshots, taken every 250 milliseconds, as its own documentation states. Four frames a second. When the Nasdaq prints ninety ticks in a second, you see four. Interactive Brokers does offer true tick-by-tick data, but only for a limited number of subscriptions. ProRealTime, connected directly to the exchanges, shows them all.
Customer service that understands you
One day, I called Interactive Brokers’ customer service. The person on the line did not speak French and did not understand my English, which was only fair: I did not understand his. I hung up none the wiser. At ProRealTime, there is a team in Paris that answers in English, as well as several other languages, with a dedicated account manager reachable on a direct line, who knows the platform and the world of Futures.
A helping hand when things go wrong
A position you need to close urgently? It can be closed by phone, free of charge. A dispute over an execution? ProRealTime reviews your complaint and backs you up with Interactive Brokers.
Rates you can negotiate
Above a certain volume, pricing is open to negotiation: someone trading a hundred lots a month and someone trading ten thousand do not pay the same price. Say Andlil sent you, and you will find a willing ear.
What you keep from Interactive Brokers
Everything behind its reputation: first-rate execution, low fees, a multi-currency account that spares you a conversion on every trade, and the strength of one of the best-capitalized brokers in the world, a constituent of the S&P 500. Interactive Brokers keeps its brokerage and market activities in two separate companies, and client money is held apart from its own.
It is also strict on margin, and generally liquidates a position as soon as it is no longer covered, rather than letting a loss deepen. It can be brutal. Above all, it is what protects the broker, and therefore its clients, on the days when the market loses its head.
Automated trading on Futures
With ProOrder, you program a strategy, test it on historical data, then let it trade on its own on the major Futures contracts. It runs on ProRealTime’s servers, not on your computer: a dropped internet connection or a computer reboot will not interrupt it. You do not need to be a programmer to get started, and programming support is there once you want to go further.
What the account costs
Commissions are Interactive Brokers’ own, charged on each execution; the details are on the ProRealTime website.
The Web and Mobile versions of ProRealTime are free. The Complete version, Premium and the official exchange data feeds are paid subscriptions, but every standard-size order or contract executed earns you a credit, deducted from those subscriptions. For an active trader, the platform no longer costs anything. One caveat: only standard-size contracts count. If you trade nothing but micro contracts, do the math first.
Who this account is for, and who it is not for
It is for you if you trade Futures, if you want to see every tick, automate a strategy, or invest in shares worldwide from a single account. It is the account of a trader who knows what they are doing.
It is not for you if you are starting out with a small account. On Futures, leverage is real, and a loss can exceed your deposit. For learning, the ProRealTime limited-risk CFD account with IG is better suited: every position has its guaranteed stop. Futures come later, once you have earned them.
Open a ProRealTime Futures account in 3 steps
- Start with the demoFree and with no time limit on the Web and Mobile versions, with a virtual portfolio and live prices.
- Open the accountThe application is completed online, as an individual, joint or company account. Checks usually take one to three business days, then you fund the account.
- Get to grips with the platformWith my complete ProRealTime course, free of charge, and my Charts & Workspaces.
Is ProRealTime with Interactive Brokers safe?
ProRealTime is a French investment firm, authorized by the Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution and supervised by the Autorité des marchés financiers, France’s financial markets regulator. Interactive Brokers Ireland is supervised by the Central Bank of Ireland.
Your money is held by the broker, in accounts segregated from its own, spread across several banks, and the securities you have paid for are held for your sole benefit. Interactive Brokers Ireland is a member of the Irish investor compensation scheme, which covers 90% of the amount lost if the broker fails, up to €20,000. That scheme protects against a broker’s failure, not against market losses.
Who is advising you
I am Benoist Rousseau, an active trader since 1994 and a member of the CME and the CBOT, the Chicago exchanges, where I hold my seats in my own name. I have traded with Interactive Brokers since 2006, and on ProRealTime for more than ten years. This page says what I use; the terms themselves come from the ProRealTime website. To compare the three brokers at a glance: opening a ProRealTime account, which broker to choose.
Frequently asked questions about ProRealTime Trading Futures
What is the minimum deposit?
It depends on your country of residence and the account type, cash or margin: the current amount is on the ProRealTime website. Futures can be traded from both account types.
I already have an Interactive Brokers account. Can I link it to ProRealTime?
Yes, if it is an Interactive Brokers Ireland account. For an account opened with another subsidiary, it depends on your country of residence: ProRealTime’s customer service will tell you.
Do I keep access to TWS?
Yes. You have access to Interactive Brokers’ platforms in addition to ProRealTime, but you do not have to keep them open: ProRealTime is connected directly to the broker.
Is ProRealTime free with Interactive Brokers?
The Web and Mobile versions, always. The Complete version, Premium and the official exchange data feeds are paid for with the credits earned by each standard contract executed. An active trader pays nothing.
Can I trade micro contracts, such as MNQ?
Yes, with proportionally lower fees. But ProRealTime credits are calculated on standard-size contracts: ask customer service what your micro contracts earn before counting on them.
How does it differ from ProRealTime limited-risk CFDs?
Here, you trade real Futures, on the exchange, with leverage that can make you lose more than your deposit. With IG, you trade limited-risk CFDs, with every position protected by a guaranteed stop. My review of ProRealTime limited-risk CFDs.
Start with the demo
Free, with no time limit, and without risking a cent. The live account can wait until you are ready.
Open a free demo accountOpen a live accountAccount terms depend on your country of residence and may change: only those on the ProRealTime website are authoritative. Trading leveraged financial instruments (Futures, selling options, short selling) can expose you to losses greater than your deposits and is suitable only for sophisticated clients able to bear such a risk.
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